The Four Mind Turnings

I want to speak about The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind, but I think many of you will chant the Western mantra, “I know, I know.” I’ve heard the “I know” mantra chanted 100 times in a single conversation. Really! I think it means, “I’ve got it, so don’t make me listen to it again.” You’re all really smart, but in the case of the Dharma, repeating a teaching is not just for your conceptual mind. Once your conceptual brain understands, you think you understand. But that kind of understanding is not enough because repetition is for your mind’s emotional understanding. In order to feel the teachings deep down, the Dharma needs to take root in the alaya, your unconscious mind. Only then can the Dharma grow from the inside out and be true nourishment for how you live. I think this takes a lot of repetition. That’s why you need to hear the teachings 100,000 times or more, even a million, a billion times. Then the preciousness of a teaching will stay with you. It’s the same as conceptually understanding the View and then meditating on it. It takes many, many, many years until it becomes part of you. First you contemplate and then you rest in the View. The same thing is true of The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind. So please listen…again.

Most every system of Dharma includes specific preliminary teachings that serve as a solid foundation for correct perception and correct spiritual practice. This preliminary teaching—Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind Toward Dharma—is the very foundation of the Buddhist path. However, these Four Thoughts can serve as a foundational understanding for everyone, regardless of faith, because they provide a clear description of the way reality works. Without this preliminary understanding, we are subject to common misperceptions of reality which inevitably cause confusion, stress, dissatisfaction, and suffering. To make progress in our practice, to attain liberation from suffering in this very lifetime, and to be able to assist the awakening of other beings, we need to radically shift our fundamental perception of reality. As we contemplate the Four Thoughts, integrating this deep wisdom into our awareness, we transform our mind and heart, thus bringing about this most essential and necessary shift in our perception and in our ways of living. In this way, the Four Thoughts help us to purify ignorance, delusion, and attachment, and will continually strengthen and clarify our Dharma practice. By contemplating the Four Thoughts we overcome the eight mundane concerns (fame/disgrace, pain/pleasure, gain/loss, praise/blame), we find the inspiration to transform our nonvirtuous behavior, and we are motivated to embrace those aspects of life which are of true and lasting value. This excellent preliminary teaching brings greater insight, wisdom, lovingkindness, and compassion—the very heart of Dharma.

It is suggested that you engage in active contemplation of these Four Thoughts by considering the direct importance, merit, and relevance of this wisdom to your own life and to the lives of others as well. Deeply contemplate and reflect upon these Four Thoughts until your mind is weary of thinking, then allow your mind to relax into the natural, effortless, and spacious awareness of non-conceptual meditation. The insights you gain through this contemplation and reflection will expand into deeper understanding and realization as you rest the mind. As you return to active contemplation, you will find that your mind is refreshed by the time spent in nonconceptual relaxation.

A Talk by Tsoknyi Rinpoche